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Chris Riddell: ‘Maurice Sendak taught us playfulness could be profound’

The author-illustrator on being read Tolkien at school, the perfect picture book and struggling to crack The Da Vinci Code

The book I am currently reading
James Holland’s magnificent account of the invasion of Sicily, Sicily ’43, filled with first-hand testimonies from private soldiers, generals, future princes and Hollywood movie stars.

The book that changed my life
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. It was read to me and the rest of my class by our teacher over the course of many weeks. I missed the battle of the five armies at the end because I had flu, so I borrowed the book from the school library and never looked back. The Hobbit turned me into an avid reader for life.

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